Motor vehicles with a rear seat row, in which a cargo space is arranged behind the backrests of the rear seat row referred to the longitudinal direction, are generally known. The cargo space is forwardly defined in the longitudinal direction by the backrests of the rear seat row and upwardly defined in the vertical direction by a cover such as a rear-window shelf. In order to securely support the backrests of the rear seat row, the body of the motor vehicle features a cross brace that extends in the lateral direction and on which an upper section of the backrests of the rear seat row can be supported.
A safety belt, which can be rolled up by a belt retractor, is furthermore assigned to the rear seat row, particularly to the central seat of the rear seat row. The belt retractor may be fastened on a tubular cross brace or on the cover defining the top of the cargo space. A few disadvantages have been associated with conventional fastening arrangements for the safety belt. For example, a belt retractor that is fastened on top of the cross brace can restrict the view of the driver toward the rear. This applies particularly to a belt retractor that is fastened on top of the cover. If the belt retractor is fastened on the cover, the cover furthermore has to be reinforced with additional measures in order to ensure that the safety belt and therefore the belt retractor can also be sturdily held in its position on the cover if it is subjected to high tensile forces. In this case, the fastening arrangement also requires significant structural space and therefore can interfere with the potential installation of other components such as loudspeakers in the cover. In conventional fastening arrangements, the belt retractor frequently also reduces the size of the cargo space and represents an obstacle in so-called through-loading, in which cargo extends from the cargo space into the vehicle interior over the folded-down backrests of the rear seat row.